Manicherryblossom33
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Sigh...! Three days late
. I'm very disappointed in myself. For some reason the editing with this chapter took longer than expected. It might have been the melon pan. I found a recipe online and made some during the weekend. Took way too long, though they were very delicious and came out perfect. Wish I'd taken some pictures.
Okay! In light of my lateness with chapter 29 I'm going to set a goal! Every Tuesday will be the day I post new chapters! And if I cannot meet this goal, I'll eat 8 heaping spoonfuls of raw wasabi!!! Oh no, I sound like Guy!
Please enjoy this weeks chapter!
Naruto fanfic: A future without you
chapter 29: a personal ghoul
SASUKE'S POV
Being sucked through the teleportation jutsu waiting for them at the bottom of the whirlpool was not unlike being teleported away by the Mangekyo sharingan. As soon as their ship entered the eye of the giant eddy, there was a pulling motion not just in the water but in the air as well. The world itself became twisted, and he felt the urge to vomit but instead kept one hand on Sakura and the other one gripped the unconscious Jugo's shirt while Kiba held onto Hinata and Suigetsu, who was still sealed in the jar.
What followed was a rainbow of colors, pulled from their surroundings and spun into a brownish gray before turning pitch black. They were yanked backwards in a gust of wind, as if a giant had inhaled, and a moment later, Sasuke felt his feet hit something as solid as cement, yet glowing red and transparent.
The others collapsed in their own individual piles of shaking limbs and puddles of drool. Naruto too hit the ground, passing out on his side with his knees bent.
Sasuke rolled Sakura over onto her back and squeezed her hand, sending some of his chakra into her. It worked. She gasped and bolted upright, patting her stomach and chest to make sure they hadn't been pulled apart.
They both looked at Naruto, as had been their instinct lately, and watched in wonder as something old but new occurred: the burn wounds covering his body instantly healed and faded away.
"His wounds!" Sakura gasped, trying to move until Sasuke blocked her with an arm. "The nine tails..."
She trailed off as her focus switched to Jugo, which Sasuke noticed was healing too. His butchered leg wound was directly touching the "floor." It healed instantly, and what hope that had bubbled up in him at the sight of Naruto healing quickly died.
For just an instant, he'd thought, after watching the wounds heal as quickly as they used to, that Naruto had remembered something. But if it was happening to Jugo then it had something to do with the "floor." Come to think of it, Sasuke felt invigorated, and the nausea of the teleportation seal had vanished as soon as he'd touched ground.
"Sit still." He told Sakura. "I'll check the others."
This didn't seem to sit right with her at first. The medic in her rebelled at the thought of leaving their disoriented comrades in a non-medics hand. But Sasuke met her eyeball for eyeball, and in the end, it wasn't her stare that won.
He was usually the only one who could win an argument against her.
One by one, he woke them up. Kiba was quick to rush Akamaru over to Sakura, which gave her something to do though she did complain "I'm not a vet!" Hinata went to Naruto, and was the only one to thank Sasuke before sitting on her knees and gently lifting Naruto's head onto her lap.
Jugo was saved for last, though his reaction was expected.
"Sasuke." He said, blinking his eyes in surprise though still calm as he sat up and examined his healed leg. "What happened? Oh, yeah... Sasuke, we found him. I was half asleep but I'm sure it was him... I THINK he was real anyway..."
"Karin said you'd been captured. What happened?" Sasuke asked, changing the subject.
Jugo rolled his eyes, without sarcasm, and stopped when he noticed the sky was empty of clouds.
"We were attacked." He replied. "We didn't know who they were at first, until Karin identified them."
"Uzumaki clan." Sasuke stated knowingly.
"Yes, exactly." Jugo nodded. "They were... Strong. Stronger than Kimimaro. Stronger than Orochimaru. And there were so many attacking us together. Their teamwork was seamless, we didn't stand a chance. They even took down Suigetsu without using lightning style."
"Where'd they take you?" Sasuke asked.
"I was unconcious, but it was somewhere underground." Jugo recalled. "There was a strong earthy scent, so I'm sure. Suigetsu and I were dazed, weakened. There was a single candle lit. And a young woman was talking with a man. A very strong man. I'm sure he was older than what his appearance told me. His chakra was too highly developed, and he had an air of authority around him."
"Seto." Sasuke said, remembering the man. "What about the woman?"
"She had long red hair, and wore a long sleeved kimono." Jugo replied.
"That must be Mami." Sasuke pinched his chin. "What happened after that?"
"The man, Seto, recognized us after going through a bingo book." Jugo answered. "Then Mami was very angry at those who brought us, and ordered us to be taken to the shinobi arena before 'he' saw us."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and looked at the unconcious Naruto. Mami hadn't wanted him to see them...
"They knew..." Sasuke cursed under his breathe.
"Knew what?" Jugo asked.
Sasuke was quick with the explanation: Naruto hadn't come home for two years because he had been swallowed by something called the space when he fell off that cliff. He now had amnesia due to a memory seal that had been placed on him, presumably by an Uzumaki. They couldn't remove it without killing him, and before finding him in Ame he had been living with his clan, the Uzumaki, resisting the evil temptress Mami and the war hungry Seto. He was still ignorant to the truth of who he was, who his real comrades were, and his ties to so many other things and people of great importance to him. If he learned the truth, the memory seal would shatter, and the damage to his brain would kill him.
"Then... He doesn't know who you are?" Jugo asked.
"Not yet." Sasuke watched as Hinata ran her fingers through Naruto's hair, whispering something to him as she did so. "He will though."
"How?"
"I'm not sure. Tsunade says she has a plan."
"Since when do you trust the hokage?"
"Since Naruto disappeared, and the hokage went to extraordinary lengths to find him."
Jugo mulled this over.
"... What should I do?" He asked.
"Help me keep Suigetsu under control." Sasuke ordered. "You know how he is when it comes to Naruto. If he instigates another fight he might cause him to have another headache."
Jugo nodded. "How do we do that?"
"It shouldn't be too hard if he stays in that jar."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then follow my lead."
Jugo nodded. "Of course."
"... Ungh..."
The two froze whipping their heads around to see Naruto stir and roll onto his back. He blinked his eyes open, which were foggy from sleep, but he stretched and was up before anyone could speak.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out to him, placing her hands on his shoulders as he brushed his fingers through all that irritating shaggy spiky blonde hair of his. "How do you feel?"
He smiled and hopped to his feet. "Great! Eh? What happened to my wounds...?"
"This healed you." Sasuke jabbed a thumb at the 'floor.' "Jugo too."
"Huh..." Naruto shrugged, crouching to brush his fingers across it in a wide arc. "It's barrier sealing jutsu. With a pass phrase hidden in the formula... Guess that means we're here..."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto looked up and around before getting up and walking past Sasuke to the rocky edge.
"Yep. Those are definitely clouds." He sung out, causing the others to run over and throw their heads over the side. Sasuke knit his brow when he saw thick, white clouds resting at what appeared to be (yet obviously wasn't) the base of a group of rocky precipices. There were also smashed, soaked wooden planks and splinters from their ship, though no corpses.
"What happened to the rogue ninja?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto shrugged. "Uri said that hostile idiots like them can never enter Uzushio. The Sacred Tree, Kairi, would never let them pass through the secret entrance safely. They're either dead or teleported somewhere very. Not. Safe."
He "hmph[ed]," smirking at the poetic justice possibly delivered to the rogue ninja and turned on his heel to walk to the center of the barrier seal.
"We can walk on this thing." He noted. "It's super-stiff!"
"Can you remove it?" Kiba asked.
Naruto gave him a look like "are you crazy?"
"Of course not! Then anybody could get in!" He pouted at the thought of his ancestral home being invaded and pillaged by hostile foreigners.
Kiba wasn't satisfied, and Akamaru whined, sensing his mood. He threw his arms up at him, furious.
"Then how are we supposed to finish our mission! Come up with something, you show off!"
Naruto crossed his arms behind his head. "We just gotta say the PASS phrase, and we'll PASS through."
"Pass through?" Sasuke raised both eyebrows at the idea of passing through the barrier seal, which felt more solid to his feet than cement.
Naruto dropped both arms, raising one at the elbow. He flexed and stretched his fingers, letting grainy, cloudy red chakra flood out and gather over his head to form words.
Sakura pointed at them, curious.
"Is that it? Seems a little obvious to me." She said.
"Saying it is the easy part." Naruto pointed at the words. "You have to MEAN it. If you lie even a little, we'll be blasted off this mountain, down those cliffs, and killed. Probably. That's the way the seal is set up."
Sakura gulped, looking over the rocky tips and down at the clouds.
"Okay... So, all we have to do is say it... And mean it?" She asked.
"Yep." Naruto grinned. "It should be easy for you guys. Unless you're planning on betraying and attacking me."
This question ended with a light chuckle, but there was just a hint of doubt in his tone. Noticing this, Jugo looked at Sasuke, seeming to believe him more than before.
Of course Naruto would still have his doubts about them. It was a ninja instinct, even more so a JINCHUURIKI instinct, to never let your guard down. Doing so was fatal. Of course, if he were with Tsuna or Uri, his guard would be so low he'd probably take food from a stranger (a perfect opportunity to die from poisoning). And the same would be true with Sasuke, if he remembered him.
Jugo already knew all of this of course.
The group, minus the pickled Suigetsu and including Naruto, looked to the words and read them in unison.
"I swear not to harm this land or it's people."
Sakura automatically squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her elbows. Naruto ducked into a crouch and felt the floor. The others were silent, and waited.
But nothing happened.
"What's going on?" Kiba asked.
"Did anybody lie?" Sasuke asked.
Jugo shook his head. "I have nothing against this land or it's people."
Jugo didn't have anything against anybody, given his mellow and gentle nature. So Sasuke believed him. And none of the others would hurt Naruto. But Naruto wasn't really one of this lands people...
"Nobody lied, or we'd be dead right now." Naruto stated, gripping his knees and pushing himself to his feet.
"Then what?" Sakura asked.
Naruto pointed at the jar. "It's probably because of him. He didn't say the words and mean them."
All heads turned to the jar, eyes already wide and panicky and extremely doubtful. This applied to Sasuke as well.
"We've got no choice." Naruto punched his palm horizontally and started towards the jar. "I'll bust him out, then make him say the words."
Sasuke jumped inbetween him and Suigetsu, holding his arms out to block Naruto from getting any closer to the jar.
"No, wait..." He said, trailing off as he tried to think of an excuse. Any excuse. "This guy... He's..."
Unable to lie, he told the truth.
"This guy is easily excitable, and violent, and dangerous to most people." He said. "He always challenges the most accomplished, and nearly kills them."
Naruto frowned. "Well... What are you saying? Throw him off the cliff?"
Sasuke started considering it immediately, until Naruto followed up with: "if the jar shatters, the black hole seal hidden in the glass will kill us all."
Then he started to consider another solution, and stepped out of the way.
"Go ahead and open it." He said, making Sakura and Kiba jump.
"Sasuke!" Sakura ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly, pulling some of it out.
"Are you crazy?!" Kiba asked. "He'll kill us all! He'd never say those words, let alone mean them!"
Hinata didn't say anything, but she looked over the cliff tops as if considering CLIMBING down the rocky precipices.
"This is a bad idea, Sasuke." Jugo added.
"Be quiet, all of you." Sasuke ordered, glaring at them through slit-narrowed eyes before looking at Naruto, who was laughing at everybody's reactions. "Be careful letting him out. The minute you do, he'll try to attack you with a long sword. Just make sure you get back quickly enough and leave the rest to me."
Naruto sat down and picked up the jar as if it held cookies instead of a head-hunting megalomaniac.
"Gotcha!" He said to Sasuke.
"One more thing." Sasuke held up his index finger, causing Naruto to freeze. "Plug your ears and hum."
"What?" Naruto pouted, probably thinking Sasuke was ridiculous.
"As soon as he's out, and your out of the way, plug your ears and hum."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Okay fine, crazy."
A few moments later, the seals were safely removed and Naruto had barely cracked the lid before it popped off and all the water inside exploded out in tube-like vortex, becoming a head at the top and shape shifting the rest of itself into a pale, white-haired, man around Sasuke's age.
He still held his long sword, backbiter, and laughed maniacally as he raised it to slash at Naruto, who was already on his feet and poised on his heel to dodge the attack.
"YOU!" Suigetsu charged him.
Naruto jumped back as Suigetsu sliced through the air, landing on his feet as far away as possible from Suigetsu, who charged. Sasuke slid to a stop in front of him, making one hands fingers curl up like claws as his palm sparked lightning style. Behind him, Naruto drew circles in the air with both index fingers, making small circular red cushions of Kyuubi chakra that he pressed over his ears as Sasuke slammed his palm down on Suigetsu's forehead.
The sword froze mid swing in the air above them, shaking as Suigetsu laughed sarcastically, paralyzed by the lightning style palm-spark jutsu. Not as powerful or as exhaustive as chidori, yet, if used properly, was enough to stop Suigetsu, whose body turned to liquid if any attack hit.
"What's up with you?" Suigetsu laughed. "Move, Sasuke."
"You stop. Now." Sasuke ordered. "And listen to me. I'll explain it quickly, since I don't want him to get suspicious. Naruto has amnesia, and if you do or say anything to jog his memory, he could die."
"Heh... Well I guess I've got no choice." Suigetsu said with a shudder, a sign of suppressed fear. "If he dies, I won't be able to challenge him anymore. And anyway, with you glaring at me like that, I take it you'll kill me if I attack him challenge him anyway, huh?"
Sasuke said nothing.
"They're working on a plan to restore his memory." Jugo added helpfully. "Until then, keep your distance."
"And keep silent." Sasuke ordered.
"Huh! Fine. Whatever." Suigetsu said, grinning maniacally at Naruto, whose eyes were closed and ears still plugged as he hummed.
"Good, now," Sasuke activated his sharingan and caught Suigetsu in his gaze, "Say these words..."
What followed was a dazed Suigetsu being forced under genjutsu to say and mean the pass phrase. Afterwards, everyone suddenly slipped through the solid seal as if it were just another cloud and fell a short way onto a more solid...
"... Cloud?" Kiba asked.
"Everyone hold hands!" Naruto ordered, now out of his self-induced private bubble.
"Ha! He's hysterical!" Suigetsu yelled.
"No, he's right! Sakura!" Sasuke sought her hand out, brushing the leather glove with his
fingers and grasping her hand.
Sakura in turn took Kiba's hand, who looped an arm around Akamaru, who allowed Hinata to loosely grip his tail while her other hand took Naruto's, who'd gotten stuck holding Jugo's hand, who also had Suigetsu in his grasp. This meant that Sasuke was stuck holding Suigetsu's other hand, which meant he was constantly glaring at him pointedly, as if to say "this is your fault."
"Okay..." Naruto shrank back from Jugo without breaking the circle. "Nobody look away!"
"He's right. This is genjutsu fog." Sasuke noticed. "We're already in Uzushio. We just can't see it."
"The genjutsu will try to show you things." Naruto told them. "People you miss. But they're not real, so don't fall for it!"
"How do you know that?" Sakura asked.
"You can't tell? This is the same jutsu fog placed around that house that Granny trapped me in back at Konoha!"
Sasuke whipped his head around. Yes, it certainly looked like it. It felt the same, too, but minus the gas addition. Wait...
FUGAKU AND KUSHINA CAME HERE... That was what Naruto had said...
Could it be... Was it possible that this was...?
SASUKE!
His head whipped up, looking at Naruto, then behind him at a shadow, hidden by the fog. It was some distance behind Naruto, but he could still see the broad straw hat, the ankle length thin, high collared coat, and the shaggy, spiky blonde hair.
C'MON SASUKE! LETS GO BACK!
The shadow threw his arm out, pointing up. Sasuke couldn't see the sky with the jutsu blocking it. But he didn't take his eyes off the shadow.
That was definitely his voice. Maybe... Maybe, if he could just reach him...!
He dropped Sakura's and Suigetsu's hands, running through the circle and breaking the link between Hinata and Kiba.
"Sasuke, wait! Don't break the circle!" Naruto yelled, trying to grab him.
Sasuke broke off in a run. The shadow didn't appear to get closer, so he ran faster.
He had to reach him! He had to reach him in time!
He had to reach him this time, before he disappeared again!
He reached through the clouds. He had to get to him! This time, he had to--
He froze as the clouds vanished in a whisp of wind that blew his hair out of his face and left him grasping nothing but air.
Then he noticed he was standing in a hilly, windy valley, polka dotted with trees of Amber-colored wood and scarlet leaves. The grass was strange, with red blades that were curled like tornados or whirligigs, and there was one large pinwheel, appearing to be designed to gather wind energy, a few feet away from him.
"Sasuke!"
He blinked, and spun as Sakura crashed into his arms, trapping him in a tight hug. She buried her face in his chest, knocking the wind out of him, and it was then that he realized what he'd done.
He'd broken the circle. In the middle of a genjutsu that was designed to create hallucinations. He'd heard NARUTO'S voice, only it had been the Naruto he remembered, the one who remembered him. But it had been fake. He had pushed past the real Naruto, whom he and Sakura had finally found after two long years of searching high and low, and had ignored all of his warnings. He'd been a fool, trying to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Realizing all of this, he looked at Sakura. No, SHE was real. He hugged her back and looked at her with his sharingan to be sure of it, and looked around.
"Where... Where are the others?" He asked, scanning the area.
"I don't know!" Sakura answered, looking up at him. "We've been separated... Sasuke?"
He felt shame and rage, and pushed her away, sitting in the red grass with his knees bent to his chest. Gritting his teeth in shame, he ran his fingers through his bangs and gripped them.
"Sasuke? Sasuke, what did you see?" Sakura asked, guessing part of the truth.
He couldn't answer her. He couldn't even look her in the eye.
"Was it your mother? Itachi? Your father?" Sakura asked, guessing.
No. No,no,no. It wasn't them. It wasn't any of the people he had been expecting to see and that was the problem. He had been prepared to hear their voices, see their faces, and dismiss it as an illusion. He had been prepared to see the dead, but instead he'd seen the ghost that haunted him more than any other. One that wasn't even really a ghost.
But one that he had created for himself. His own personal ghoul, that plagued him every minute of every day, awake or asleep.
If he had just been faster back then! If he had just taken his hand, before he could fall the way he did! If he had preserved more chakra, used chidori and the sharingan less! If he had been on his feet the minute he regained consciousness, then none of this would have happened!
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE
Sasuke felt himself hit the hard-packed dirt cliff floor, and groaned when the impact made all his wounds vibrate.
He struggled to remember. They were here... On a mission! ... A very important mission... They'd defeated the enemy, but, the floor had collapsed in certain sections... And they'd all fallen...?
Wait... No! That wasn't correct! Somebody... Somebody had caught them, and held on to the edge of the mountainside for a very long time... He didn't have as many injuries as the rest of them, but he'd overused his chakra and had struck the final blow against their enemies...
One eye blinked open, foggy from blood loss and the exhaustive use of the sharingan. The other was full of dirt, and Sasuke could barely move his arms so he couldn't rub it out. He tried to blink the mud away instead, but both eyes widened at the sight before him...
The pointed, rocky floor was continuing to crack, spitting dust and mud as it slowly descended tip first into the wide pitch black abyss. You could tell from the cracks and the fissures just how weak the ground had become from their battle, and it was trying to give way completely. Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata, who were still passed out, were safely out of range of the weak ground, close to a rocky precipice that scraped the clouds.
But Naruto was still over there, clinging to the crumbling edge with shaking, bruised, arms and cracked, bleeding fingernails. He'd gotten so weak from holding on he'd resorted to biting into a loose, old tree root with his teeth. He quickly moved his hands inward, sliding them through the mud, as his current handholds crumbled away. He noticed Sasuke's horrified gaze, but was too tired and chakra-deprived to smile back, which was his usual act to calm anyone who was worried about him.
He had to move! He had to! Now!
Sasuke groaned and screamed in pain and aggravation as he pushed himself up long enough to free his arm from underneath his belly. He slid it across the ground, and tried to move his second one, but was unable to. He tried again, and felt a sharp, brain-splitting pain slice through all his joints, causing him to collapse again.
He looked helplessly at Naruto, who was also trying to move to a safe place, but was too exhausted. Sasuke used what little chakra he could spare to activate his sharingan, and grit his teeth in desperation.
Naruto's chakra levels were in the danger zone! If Sakura didn't get a chakra tonic into him now, he could die! If he fell from that cliff, he wouldn't be able to save himself!
Move! Sasuke commanded, looking at his body. Move! Move! MOVE!
He succeeded in moving the same arm as before, and lashed out, dragging himself forward. He still had time! He needed to save him, now!
Just then, a huge fissure split the floor, with Sasuke on one side, Naruto on the other. That half of the tip dipped forward, stopping when the roots hidden in the ground were strained. Naruto reached up, gripping the new edge, and forcing himself up, high enough to meet Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke glared, frustrated, and scared. This couldn't be happening! It was a nightmare! It couldn't be possible that both he and Naruto were THIS tired!
But, the other half of his brain said, the rogue ninja were stronger than you thought. You underestimated them. Sakura advised Naruto, led the ninja here, into a trap. Hinata's unusual spaciness had been a factor in this too. He covered for all of you.
The plan had been to have the rogue ninja be severely weakened and fall from the cliff. This had already happened. What kind of sick irony was occurring now?!
"Sasuke...!" Naruto called out, breathless and bleeding and half unconcious already. His eye flitted to Hinata, looking rather regretful, and wanting to tell her something important.
Sasuke's eyes widened more, if that was possible. He didn't say it himself, but every part of him was screaming. No! This was impossible!
Then Naruto looked him in the eye, looking very serious for once, and smiled with as much energy as he could, and looked at Sasuke apologetically.
"Sorry..."
Sasuke froze as the roots snapped, and the other half of the cliff floor crumbled a away, taking Naruto with it into the gorge.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
He shot to his feet at the memory, and pinched his nose bridge. How could he have been so foolish as to fall for an illusion at a time like this?!
"Sasuke? Sasuke!"
He whipped his head up as he felt Sakura grab his free wrist. She was looking at him very seriously, with some kind of warning hidden in her expression.
"Sasuke, it's okay." She said. "It's okay to make mistakes. Besides, he's somewhere in these ruins for sure, and we're going to find him and the others. Besides, there's a chance he's with someone else from our group, and they won't let him out of their sight."
He nodded. She was right. He shouldn't be distracted by regrets right now, when their group had been split up like this. Chances were that Suigetsu would use this as an opportunity. They had to get to HIM first.
"C'mon!" Sakura said, pulling him by the hand. "We should search the woods. If we ended up here, chances are the others are somewhere nearby."
Sasuke sighed. He really did feel pretty ashamed, having fallen for such an obvious illusion. He was an Uchiha! For him to be snared by any genjutsu was the worst insult.
Feeling the red grass fall beneath his feet, he knit his brow. That was weird. He had grown up in Konoha, and knew what it felt like to have grass bend beneath your shoes. This didn't feel like grass. It felt more like... Well, nothing. He didn't know how to describe it. But if he had to say, he'd say it felt soft, like moss, only there were actual (red) grass blades everywhere he looked. On top of that, there was some weird sensation shooting through his feet every time he took a step.
"Sakura, do you notice it too?" He asked.
She looked over her shoulder at him as she continued to walk. "Yeah. It's strange to say but, this grass is weird. And there's something else."
"What?"
"Do you get the feeling we're being watched?"
Hmm. Yes, actually, he did feel that way. But as far as he could tell, this whole place was buzzing with chakra in the ground, through the plant life, in the air and in the water. It had to have something to do with the Sacred Tree.
"Maybe Kairi is watching us." He suggested.
"That makes sense." Sakura said, agreeing with him. "She's practically the guardian of Uzushio, from the sound of it. Wait. Maybe we should look for her!"
"I doubt she can talk." Sasuke said. "She's a tree. Naruto never said the Sacred Tree could talk."
"No that's not what I mean. Naruto is sure to go to her, and he probably expects us to do the same since we know about her. The others are probably headed there too. The only ones who don't know about Kairi are Jugo and Suigetsu, and we can look for them later."
She had a point. That was obviously one of Naruto's goals: reaching Kairi. Sasuke knew this, and Naruto knew he knew it.
"Alright, let's go to the Sacred Tree." Sasuke said. "But how do we look for it?"
"Well, it must look different from the other trees if it's an ancient chakra reservoir." Sakura said, looking up. "Look for a tree that stands out from the others. Huh...?"
He looked up, and froze, gripping her hand so she, too, stopped.
"Sasuke? What's wrong?" She asked him.
He scanned the trees. All of them. They were in ALL of the trees. Some were as large as rubber balls, or larger. Others were the size of peas, or smaller. And they decorated all of the trees like apples.
"What is this?" Sasuke asked. "What's wrong with this place?"
. I'm very disappointed in myself. For some reason the editing with this chapter took longer than expected. It might have been the melon pan. I found a recipe online and made some during the weekend. Took way too long, though they were very delicious and came out perfect. Wish I'd taken some pictures.Okay! In light of my lateness with chapter 29 I'm going to set a goal! Every Tuesday will be the day I post new chapters! And if I cannot meet this goal, I'll eat 8 heaping spoonfuls of raw wasabi!!! Oh no, I sound like Guy!
Please enjoy this weeks chapter!
Naruto fanfic: A future without you
chapter 29: a personal ghoul
SASUKE'S POV
Being sucked through the teleportation jutsu waiting for them at the bottom of the whirlpool was not unlike being teleported away by the Mangekyo sharingan. As soon as their ship entered the eye of the giant eddy, there was a pulling motion not just in the water but in the air as well. The world itself became twisted, and he felt the urge to vomit but instead kept one hand on Sakura and the other one gripped the unconscious Jugo's shirt while Kiba held onto Hinata and Suigetsu, who was still sealed in the jar.
What followed was a rainbow of colors, pulled from their surroundings and spun into a brownish gray before turning pitch black. They were yanked backwards in a gust of wind, as if a giant had inhaled, and a moment later, Sasuke felt his feet hit something as solid as cement, yet glowing red and transparent.
The others collapsed in their own individual piles of shaking limbs and puddles of drool. Naruto too hit the ground, passing out on his side with his knees bent.
Sasuke rolled Sakura over onto her back and squeezed her hand, sending some of his chakra into her. It worked. She gasped and bolted upright, patting her stomach and chest to make sure they hadn't been pulled apart.
They both looked at Naruto, as had been their instinct lately, and watched in wonder as something old but new occurred: the burn wounds covering his body instantly healed and faded away.
"His wounds!" Sakura gasped, trying to move until Sasuke blocked her with an arm. "The nine tails..."
She trailed off as her focus switched to Jugo, which Sasuke noticed was healing too. His butchered leg wound was directly touching the "floor." It healed instantly, and what hope that had bubbled up in him at the sight of Naruto healing quickly died.
For just an instant, he'd thought, after watching the wounds heal as quickly as they used to, that Naruto had remembered something. But if it was happening to Jugo then it had something to do with the "floor." Come to think of it, Sasuke felt invigorated, and the nausea of the teleportation seal had vanished as soon as he'd touched ground.
"Sit still." He told Sakura. "I'll check the others."
This didn't seem to sit right with her at first. The medic in her rebelled at the thought of leaving their disoriented comrades in a non-medics hand. But Sasuke met her eyeball for eyeball, and in the end, it wasn't her stare that won.
He was usually the only one who could win an argument against her.
One by one, he woke them up. Kiba was quick to rush Akamaru over to Sakura, which gave her something to do though she did complain "I'm not a vet!" Hinata went to Naruto, and was the only one to thank Sasuke before sitting on her knees and gently lifting Naruto's head onto her lap.
Jugo was saved for last, though his reaction was expected.
"Sasuke." He said, blinking his eyes in surprise though still calm as he sat up and examined his healed leg. "What happened? Oh, yeah... Sasuke, we found him. I was half asleep but I'm sure it was him... I THINK he was real anyway..."
"Karin said you'd been captured. What happened?" Sasuke asked, changing the subject.
Jugo rolled his eyes, without sarcasm, and stopped when he noticed the sky was empty of clouds.
"We were attacked." He replied. "We didn't know who they were at first, until Karin identified them."
"Uzumaki clan." Sasuke stated knowingly.
"Yes, exactly." Jugo nodded. "They were... Strong. Stronger than Kimimaro. Stronger than Orochimaru. And there were so many attacking us together. Their teamwork was seamless, we didn't stand a chance. They even took down Suigetsu without using lightning style."
"Where'd they take you?" Sasuke asked.
"I was unconcious, but it was somewhere underground." Jugo recalled. "There was a strong earthy scent, so I'm sure. Suigetsu and I were dazed, weakened. There was a single candle lit. And a young woman was talking with a man. A very strong man. I'm sure he was older than what his appearance told me. His chakra was too highly developed, and he had an air of authority around him."
"Seto." Sasuke said, remembering the man. "What about the woman?"
"She had long red hair, and wore a long sleeved kimono." Jugo replied.
"That must be Mami." Sasuke pinched his chin. "What happened after that?"
"The man, Seto, recognized us after going through a bingo book." Jugo answered. "Then Mami was very angry at those who brought us, and ordered us to be taken to the shinobi arena before 'he' saw us."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and looked at the unconcious Naruto. Mami hadn't wanted him to see them...
"They knew..." Sasuke cursed under his breathe.
"Knew what?" Jugo asked.
Sasuke was quick with the explanation: Naruto hadn't come home for two years because he had been swallowed by something called the space when he fell off that cliff. He now had amnesia due to a memory seal that had been placed on him, presumably by an Uzumaki. They couldn't remove it without killing him, and before finding him in Ame he had been living with his clan, the Uzumaki, resisting the evil temptress Mami and the war hungry Seto. He was still ignorant to the truth of who he was, who his real comrades were, and his ties to so many other things and people of great importance to him. If he learned the truth, the memory seal would shatter, and the damage to his brain would kill him.
"Then... He doesn't know who you are?" Jugo asked.
"Not yet." Sasuke watched as Hinata ran her fingers through Naruto's hair, whispering something to him as she did so. "He will though."
"How?"
"I'm not sure. Tsunade says she has a plan."
"Since when do you trust the hokage?"
"Since Naruto disappeared, and the hokage went to extraordinary lengths to find him."
Jugo mulled this over.
"... What should I do?" He asked.
"Help me keep Suigetsu under control." Sasuke ordered. "You know how he is when it comes to Naruto. If he instigates another fight he might cause him to have another headache."
Jugo nodded. "How do we do that?"
"It shouldn't be too hard if he stays in that jar."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then follow my lead."
Jugo nodded. "Of course."
"... Ungh..."
The two froze whipping their heads around to see Naruto stir and roll onto his back. He blinked his eyes open, which were foggy from sleep, but he stretched and was up before anyone could speak.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out to him, placing her hands on his shoulders as he brushed his fingers through all that irritating shaggy spiky blonde hair of his. "How do you feel?"
He smiled and hopped to his feet. "Great! Eh? What happened to my wounds...?"
"This healed you." Sasuke jabbed a thumb at the 'floor.' "Jugo too."
"Huh..." Naruto shrugged, crouching to brush his fingers across it in a wide arc. "It's barrier sealing jutsu. With a pass phrase hidden in the formula... Guess that means we're here..."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto looked up and around before getting up and walking past Sasuke to the rocky edge.
"Yep. Those are definitely clouds." He sung out, causing the others to run over and throw their heads over the side. Sasuke knit his brow when he saw thick, white clouds resting at what appeared to be (yet obviously wasn't) the base of a group of rocky precipices. There were also smashed, soaked wooden planks and splinters from their ship, though no corpses.
"What happened to the rogue ninja?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto shrugged. "Uri said that hostile idiots like them can never enter Uzushio. The Sacred Tree, Kairi, would never let them pass through the secret entrance safely. They're either dead or teleported somewhere very. Not. Safe."
He "hmph[ed]," smirking at the poetic justice possibly delivered to the rogue ninja and turned on his heel to walk to the center of the barrier seal.
"We can walk on this thing." He noted. "It's super-stiff!"
"Can you remove it?" Kiba asked.
Naruto gave him a look like "are you crazy?"
"Of course not! Then anybody could get in!" He pouted at the thought of his ancestral home being invaded and pillaged by hostile foreigners.
Kiba wasn't satisfied, and Akamaru whined, sensing his mood. He threw his arms up at him, furious.
"Then how are we supposed to finish our mission! Come up with something, you show off!"
Naruto crossed his arms behind his head. "We just gotta say the PASS phrase, and we'll PASS through."
"Pass through?" Sasuke raised both eyebrows at the idea of passing through the barrier seal, which felt more solid to his feet than cement.
Naruto dropped both arms, raising one at the elbow. He flexed and stretched his fingers, letting grainy, cloudy red chakra flood out and gather over his head to form words.
Sakura pointed at them, curious.
"Is that it? Seems a little obvious to me." She said.
"Saying it is the easy part." Naruto pointed at the words. "You have to MEAN it. If you lie even a little, we'll be blasted off this mountain, down those cliffs, and killed. Probably. That's the way the seal is set up."
Sakura gulped, looking over the rocky tips and down at the clouds.
"Okay... So, all we have to do is say it... And mean it?" She asked.
"Yep." Naruto grinned. "It should be easy for you guys. Unless you're planning on betraying and attacking me."
This question ended with a light chuckle, but there was just a hint of doubt in his tone. Noticing this, Jugo looked at Sasuke, seeming to believe him more than before.
Of course Naruto would still have his doubts about them. It was a ninja instinct, even more so a JINCHUURIKI instinct, to never let your guard down. Doing so was fatal. Of course, if he were with Tsuna or Uri, his guard would be so low he'd probably take food from a stranger (a perfect opportunity to die from poisoning). And the same would be true with Sasuke, if he remembered him.
Jugo already knew all of this of course.
The group, minus the pickled Suigetsu and including Naruto, looked to the words and read them in unison.
"I swear not to harm this land or it's people."
Sakura automatically squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her elbows. Naruto ducked into a crouch and felt the floor. The others were silent, and waited.
But nothing happened.
"What's going on?" Kiba asked.
"Did anybody lie?" Sasuke asked.
Jugo shook his head. "I have nothing against this land or it's people."
Jugo didn't have anything against anybody, given his mellow and gentle nature. So Sasuke believed him. And none of the others would hurt Naruto. But Naruto wasn't really one of this lands people...
"Nobody lied, or we'd be dead right now." Naruto stated, gripping his knees and pushing himself to his feet.
"Then what?" Sakura asked.
Naruto pointed at the jar. "It's probably because of him. He didn't say the words and mean them."
All heads turned to the jar, eyes already wide and panicky and extremely doubtful. This applied to Sasuke as well.
"We've got no choice." Naruto punched his palm horizontally and started towards the jar. "I'll bust him out, then make him say the words."
Sasuke jumped inbetween him and Suigetsu, holding his arms out to block Naruto from getting any closer to the jar.
"No, wait..." He said, trailing off as he tried to think of an excuse. Any excuse. "This guy... He's..."
Unable to lie, he told the truth.
"This guy is easily excitable, and violent, and dangerous to most people." He said. "He always challenges the most accomplished, and nearly kills them."
Naruto frowned. "Well... What are you saying? Throw him off the cliff?"
Sasuke started considering it immediately, until Naruto followed up with: "if the jar shatters, the black hole seal hidden in the glass will kill us all."
Then he started to consider another solution, and stepped out of the way.
"Go ahead and open it." He said, making Sakura and Kiba jump.
"Sasuke!" Sakura ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly, pulling some of it out.
"Are you crazy?!" Kiba asked. "He'll kill us all! He'd never say those words, let alone mean them!"
Hinata didn't say anything, but she looked over the cliff tops as if considering CLIMBING down the rocky precipices.
"This is a bad idea, Sasuke." Jugo added.
"Be quiet, all of you." Sasuke ordered, glaring at them through slit-narrowed eyes before looking at Naruto, who was laughing at everybody's reactions. "Be careful letting him out. The minute you do, he'll try to attack you with a long sword. Just make sure you get back quickly enough and leave the rest to me."
Naruto sat down and picked up the jar as if it held cookies instead of a head-hunting megalomaniac.
"Gotcha!" He said to Sasuke.
"One more thing." Sasuke held up his index finger, causing Naruto to freeze. "Plug your ears and hum."
"What?" Naruto pouted, probably thinking Sasuke was ridiculous.
"As soon as he's out, and your out of the way, plug your ears and hum."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Okay fine, crazy."
A few moments later, the seals were safely removed and Naruto had barely cracked the lid before it popped off and all the water inside exploded out in tube-like vortex, becoming a head at the top and shape shifting the rest of itself into a pale, white-haired, man around Sasuke's age.
He still held his long sword, backbiter, and laughed maniacally as he raised it to slash at Naruto, who was already on his feet and poised on his heel to dodge the attack.
"YOU!" Suigetsu charged him.
Naruto jumped back as Suigetsu sliced through the air, landing on his feet as far away as possible from Suigetsu, who charged. Sasuke slid to a stop in front of him, making one hands fingers curl up like claws as his palm sparked lightning style. Behind him, Naruto drew circles in the air with both index fingers, making small circular red cushions of Kyuubi chakra that he pressed over his ears as Sasuke slammed his palm down on Suigetsu's forehead.
The sword froze mid swing in the air above them, shaking as Suigetsu laughed sarcastically, paralyzed by the lightning style palm-spark jutsu. Not as powerful or as exhaustive as chidori, yet, if used properly, was enough to stop Suigetsu, whose body turned to liquid if any attack hit.
"What's up with you?" Suigetsu laughed. "Move, Sasuke."
"You stop. Now." Sasuke ordered. "And listen to me. I'll explain it quickly, since I don't want him to get suspicious. Naruto has amnesia, and if you do or say anything to jog his memory, he could die."
"Heh... Well I guess I've got no choice." Suigetsu said with a shudder, a sign of suppressed fear. "If he dies, I won't be able to challenge him anymore. And anyway, with you glaring at me like that, I take it you'll kill me if I attack him challenge him anyway, huh?"
Sasuke said nothing.
"They're working on a plan to restore his memory." Jugo added helpfully. "Until then, keep your distance."
"And keep silent." Sasuke ordered.
"Huh! Fine. Whatever." Suigetsu said, grinning maniacally at Naruto, whose eyes were closed and ears still plugged as he hummed.
"Good, now," Sasuke activated his sharingan and caught Suigetsu in his gaze, "Say these words..."
What followed was a dazed Suigetsu being forced under genjutsu to say and mean the pass phrase. Afterwards, everyone suddenly slipped through the solid seal as if it were just another cloud and fell a short way onto a more solid...
"... Cloud?" Kiba asked.
"Everyone hold hands!" Naruto ordered, now out of his self-induced private bubble.
"Ha! He's hysterical!" Suigetsu yelled.
"No, he's right! Sakura!" Sasuke sought her hand out, brushing the leather glove with his
fingers and grasping her hand.
Sakura in turn took Kiba's hand, who looped an arm around Akamaru, who allowed Hinata to loosely grip his tail while her other hand took Naruto's, who'd gotten stuck holding Jugo's hand, who also had Suigetsu in his grasp. This meant that Sasuke was stuck holding Suigetsu's other hand, which meant he was constantly glaring at him pointedly, as if to say "this is your fault."
"Okay..." Naruto shrank back from Jugo without breaking the circle. "Nobody look away!"
"He's right. This is genjutsu fog." Sasuke noticed. "We're already in Uzushio. We just can't see it."
"The genjutsu will try to show you things." Naruto told them. "People you miss. But they're not real, so don't fall for it!"
"How do you know that?" Sakura asked.
"You can't tell? This is the same jutsu fog placed around that house that Granny trapped me in back at Konoha!"
Sasuke whipped his head around. Yes, it certainly looked like it. It felt the same, too, but minus the gas addition. Wait...
FUGAKU AND KUSHINA CAME HERE... That was what Naruto had said...
Could it be... Was it possible that this was...?
SASUKE!
His head whipped up, looking at Naruto, then behind him at a shadow, hidden by the fog. It was some distance behind Naruto, but he could still see the broad straw hat, the ankle length thin, high collared coat, and the shaggy, spiky blonde hair.
C'MON SASUKE! LETS GO BACK!
The shadow threw his arm out, pointing up. Sasuke couldn't see the sky with the jutsu blocking it. But he didn't take his eyes off the shadow.
That was definitely his voice. Maybe... Maybe, if he could just reach him...!
He dropped Sakura's and Suigetsu's hands, running through the circle and breaking the link between Hinata and Kiba.
"Sasuke, wait! Don't break the circle!" Naruto yelled, trying to grab him.
Sasuke broke off in a run. The shadow didn't appear to get closer, so he ran faster.
He had to reach him! He had to reach him in time!
He had to reach him this time, before he disappeared again!
He reached through the clouds. He had to get to him! This time, he had to--
He froze as the clouds vanished in a whisp of wind that blew his hair out of his face and left him grasping nothing but air.
Then he noticed he was standing in a hilly, windy valley, polka dotted with trees of Amber-colored wood and scarlet leaves. The grass was strange, with red blades that were curled like tornados or whirligigs, and there was one large pinwheel, appearing to be designed to gather wind energy, a few feet away from him.
"Sasuke!"
He blinked, and spun as Sakura crashed into his arms, trapping him in a tight hug. She buried her face in his chest, knocking the wind out of him, and it was then that he realized what he'd done.
He'd broken the circle. In the middle of a genjutsu that was designed to create hallucinations. He'd heard NARUTO'S voice, only it had been the Naruto he remembered, the one who remembered him. But it had been fake. He had pushed past the real Naruto, whom he and Sakura had finally found after two long years of searching high and low, and had ignored all of his warnings. He'd been a fool, trying to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Realizing all of this, he looked at Sakura. No, SHE was real. He hugged her back and looked at her with his sharingan to be sure of it, and looked around.
"Where... Where are the others?" He asked, scanning the area.
"I don't know!" Sakura answered, looking up at him. "We've been separated... Sasuke?"
He felt shame and rage, and pushed her away, sitting in the red grass with his knees bent to his chest. Gritting his teeth in shame, he ran his fingers through his bangs and gripped them.
"Sasuke? Sasuke, what did you see?" Sakura asked, guessing part of the truth.
He couldn't answer her. He couldn't even look her in the eye.
"Was it your mother? Itachi? Your father?" Sakura asked, guessing.
No. No,no,no. It wasn't them. It wasn't any of the people he had been expecting to see and that was the problem. He had been prepared to hear their voices, see their faces, and dismiss it as an illusion. He had been prepared to see the dead, but instead he'd seen the ghost that haunted him more than any other. One that wasn't even really a ghost.
But one that he had created for himself. His own personal ghoul, that plagued him every minute of every day, awake or asleep.
If he had just been faster back then! If he had just taken his hand, before he could fall the way he did! If he had preserved more chakra, used chidori and the sharingan less! If he had been on his feet the minute he regained consciousness, then none of this would have happened!
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE
Sasuke felt himself hit the hard-packed dirt cliff floor, and groaned when the impact made all his wounds vibrate.
He struggled to remember. They were here... On a mission! ... A very important mission... They'd defeated the enemy, but, the floor had collapsed in certain sections... And they'd all fallen...?
Wait... No! That wasn't correct! Somebody... Somebody had caught them, and held on to the edge of the mountainside for a very long time... He didn't have as many injuries as the rest of them, but he'd overused his chakra and had struck the final blow against their enemies...
One eye blinked open, foggy from blood loss and the exhaustive use of the sharingan. The other was full of dirt, and Sasuke could barely move his arms so he couldn't rub it out. He tried to blink the mud away instead, but both eyes widened at the sight before him...
The pointed, rocky floor was continuing to crack, spitting dust and mud as it slowly descended tip first into the wide pitch black abyss. You could tell from the cracks and the fissures just how weak the ground had become from their battle, and it was trying to give way completely. Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata, who were still passed out, were safely out of range of the weak ground, close to a rocky precipice that scraped the clouds.
But Naruto was still over there, clinging to the crumbling edge with shaking, bruised, arms and cracked, bleeding fingernails. He'd gotten so weak from holding on he'd resorted to biting into a loose, old tree root with his teeth. He quickly moved his hands inward, sliding them through the mud, as his current handholds crumbled away. He noticed Sasuke's horrified gaze, but was too tired and chakra-deprived to smile back, which was his usual act to calm anyone who was worried about him.
He had to move! He had to! Now!
Sasuke groaned and screamed in pain and aggravation as he pushed himself up long enough to free his arm from underneath his belly. He slid it across the ground, and tried to move his second one, but was unable to. He tried again, and felt a sharp, brain-splitting pain slice through all his joints, causing him to collapse again.
He looked helplessly at Naruto, who was also trying to move to a safe place, but was too exhausted. Sasuke used what little chakra he could spare to activate his sharingan, and grit his teeth in desperation.
Naruto's chakra levels were in the danger zone! If Sakura didn't get a chakra tonic into him now, he could die! If he fell from that cliff, he wouldn't be able to save himself!
Move! Sasuke commanded, looking at his body. Move! Move! MOVE!
He succeeded in moving the same arm as before, and lashed out, dragging himself forward. He still had time! He needed to save him, now!
Just then, a huge fissure split the floor, with Sasuke on one side, Naruto on the other. That half of the tip dipped forward, stopping when the roots hidden in the ground were strained. Naruto reached up, gripping the new edge, and forcing himself up, high enough to meet Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke glared, frustrated, and scared. This couldn't be happening! It was a nightmare! It couldn't be possible that both he and Naruto were THIS tired!
But, the other half of his brain said, the rogue ninja were stronger than you thought. You underestimated them. Sakura advised Naruto, led the ninja here, into a trap. Hinata's unusual spaciness had been a factor in this too. He covered for all of you.
The plan had been to have the rogue ninja be severely weakened and fall from the cliff. This had already happened. What kind of sick irony was occurring now?!
"Sasuke...!" Naruto called out, breathless and bleeding and half unconcious already. His eye flitted to Hinata, looking rather regretful, and wanting to tell her something important.
Sasuke's eyes widened more, if that was possible. He didn't say it himself, but every part of him was screaming. No! This was impossible!
Then Naruto looked him in the eye, looking very serious for once, and smiled with as much energy as he could, and looked at Sasuke apologetically.
"Sorry..."
Sasuke froze as the roots snapped, and the other half of the cliff floor crumbled a away, taking Naruto with it into the gorge.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
He shot to his feet at the memory, and pinched his nose bridge. How could he have been so foolish as to fall for an illusion at a time like this?!
"Sasuke? Sasuke!"
He whipped his head up as he felt Sakura grab his free wrist. She was looking at him very seriously, with some kind of warning hidden in her expression.
"Sasuke, it's okay." She said. "It's okay to make mistakes. Besides, he's somewhere in these ruins for sure, and we're going to find him and the others. Besides, there's a chance he's with someone else from our group, and they won't let him out of their sight."
He nodded. She was right. He shouldn't be distracted by regrets right now, when their group had been split up like this. Chances were that Suigetsu would use this as an opportunity. They had to get to HIM first.
"C'mon!" Sakura said, pulling him by the hand. "We should search the woods. If we ended up here, chances are the others are somewhere nearby."
Sasuke sighed. He really did feel pretty ashamed, having fallen for such an obvious illusion. He was an Uchiha! For him to be snared by any genjutsu was the worst insult.
Feeling the red grass fall beneath his feet, he knit his brow. That was weird. He had grown up in Konoha, and knew what it felt like to have grass bend beneath your shoes. This didn't feel like grass. It felt more like... Well, nothing. He didn't know how to describe it. But if he had to say, he'd say it felt soft, like moss, only there were actual (red) grass blades everywhere he looked. On top of that, there was some weird sensation shooting through his feet every time he took a step.
"Sakura, do you notice it too?" He asked.
She looked over her shoulder at him as she continued to walk. "Yeah. It's strange to say but, this grass is weird. And there's something else."
"What?"
"Do you get the feeling we're being watched?"
Hmm. Yes, actually, he did feel that way. But as far as he could tell, this whole place was buzzing with chakra in the ground, through the plant life, in the air and in the water. It had to have something to do with the Sacred Tree.
"Maybe Kairi is watching us." He suggested.
"That makes sense." Sakura said, agreeing with him. "She's practically the guardian of Uzushio, from the sound of it. Wait. Maybe we should look for her!"
"I doubt she can talk." Sasuke said. "She's a tree. Naruto never said the Sacred Tree could talk."
"No that's not what I mean. Naruto is sure to go to her, and he probably expects us to do the same since we know about her. The others are probably headed there too. The only ones who don't know about Kairi are Jugo and Suigetsu, and we can look for them later."
She had a point. That was obviously one of Naruto's goals: reaching Kairi. Sasuke knew this, and Naruto knew he knew it.
"Alright, let's go to the Sacred Tree." Sasuke said. "But how do we look for it?"
"Well, it must look different from the other trees if it's an ancient chakra reservoir." Sakura said, looking up. "Look for a tree that stands out from the others. Huh...?"
He looked up, and froze, gripping her hand so she, too, stopped.
"Sasuke? What's wrong?" She asked him.
He scanned the trees. All of them. They were in ALL of the trees. Some were as large as rubber balls, or larger. Others were the size of peas, or smaller. And they decorated all of the trees like apples.
"What is this?" Sasuke asked. "What's wrong with this place?"
Yooooo. Nice amazing chapter
